On Monday night the Pittsburgh Pirates began a three game road series against the Milwaukee Brewers. While these two teams have had completely different seasons, they have played each other pretty evenly in 2022. To open this series, Milwaukee would use a pair of runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to earn a 7-5 victory.
The Brewers jumped out to a three-run lead in the third inning. It began when Willy Adames singled to right center, scoring Garrett Mitchell. The other two runs would come in to score when Hunter Renfroe doubled to shallow right. Those runs would be charged to Pittsburgh starter Bryse Wilson. He would work just three innings, allowing three runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
The Pirates would rally and take the lead with four runs in the fifth inning. Jason Delay got things started with an RBI single to center. Oneil Cruz then blasted a 426 ft. three run home run to right, which left the bat at an estimated 117.5 miles per hour. Another young Buc, Rodolfo Castro, would launch a 421 ft. two run home run to deep right center to put Pittsburgh ahead 5-3.
Milwaukee starter Corbin Burnes allowed all five of those runs on eight hits over six innings. He would also strikeout five and walk one. The Brewers bullpen kept things in check over the final three innings. Brent Suter struck out two and walked one, while allowing two hits in two innings of work. The ninth inning belonged to Devin Williams, and he would also strike out two and walk one.
Eric Stout was the first Pirates relief pitcher to come out of the bullpen. He pitched 1.2 innings, striking out three, walking two and allowing two hits. Yohan Ramirez pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings, before being lifted for Duane Underwood Jr. He worked 1.2 innings allowing one hit, one run, walking one and striking out two.
That one run allowed by Underwood Jr. came in the eighth when Mitchell hit a two-run home run to tie the game at five off of Wil Crowe. He then gave up the winning two run home run off the bat of Keston Hiura in the bottom of the ninth. Crowe would face four batters, but only collect one out on the night.
This was a tough loss to swallow, since the offense put up five runs and collected ten hits on the night, and we saw two big home runs from the young core of this team. Unfortunately, the bullpen, which has been decent of late, just let things go in the end. This three-game series will continue Tuesday night at 8:10pm. Mitch Keller is slated to pitch for Pittsburgh, while Milwaukee will counter with Jason Alexander.
Record vs. Brewers: 7-10
Record vs. N.L. Central: 22-32
Record on the Road: 22-44
Overall Record: 48-80
And…
As Always…
Let’s Go Bucs!
